06/23/2013

Corrupt Border Agents Get Long Prison Terms

Two border agents have been sentenced to hard time "for running a ring that smuggled hundreds of illegal immigrants into the United States" as reported by The Associated Press:

Judge John A. Houston of Federal District Court on Friday sentenced Raul
Villarreal to 35 years for being the ringleader and ordered him to pay a
$250,000 fine. Fidel Villarreal, his brother, was sentenced to 30 years
for managing the illicit business.

American law enforcement finally has recognized that many U.S. border
towns are little more than banana republics beholden to the Mexican
drug cartels, and federal and state officials are dropping in to sweep
up as reported by Jeri Clausing for The Associated Press:
"state and federal agencies are cracking down on border town corruption
as part of the larger effort to battle Mexican drug cartels."

Of course, it is axiomatic that organized crime cannot exist without public corruption.

The Mexican cartels move $50 billion in bulk product
and bundled cash across the border each year, and have established
supply lines, distribution networks and operational cells in hundreds of
communties throughout the United States. There is no way that such a well-entrenched operation could be so successfully accomplished without a
little help from well-placed friends.

Interviews and court records and
testimony show the South Texas cases often involve one officer at a
time pulled to the dark side by friends, family or associates offering
quick cash. "If you are a local person, you are going to have
friends and relatives in the community and know people on both sides
of the border," said Steve McCraw, head of the Texas Department of
Public Safety. "They are going to know someone, who knows someone, and
take a shot."